The invention relates to a relay connector for board inspection and others for electrically connecting a core conductor of a coaxial connector to a terminal electrode formed on the front surface of a board and also electrically connecting a shell GND of the coaxial connector to a GND electrode formed on the back surface of the board.
In design/manufacture of a high frequency circuit board, on the way of designing, characteristic evaluation must be done. In this case, by electrically connecting a core conductor of a coaxial connector to a terminal electrode formed at the end on the front surface of a board and also electrically connecting a shell GND of the coaxial connector to a GND electrode formed at the end on the back surface of the board, the characteristic evaluation is done on the basis of the high frequency signal produced from the terminal electrode. Referring to FIGS. 25 and 26, a brief explanation will be given of a related art structure of electrically connecting a coaxial connector to a board. FIG. 25 is a view showing a related art structure of electrically connecting the coaxial connector to the board. FIG. 26 is an exploded perspective view of a related art structure before the coaxial connector is connected to the board. In FIGS. 25 and 26, by soldering, core conductors 14a of coaxial connectors 14 (for example, SMA type connectors) are electrically connected to terminal electrodes 12 formed at the end of the front surface of a board 10, whereas by soldering, shell GNDs 14b of the coaxial connectors 14 are electrically connected to the GND electrode 16 formed at the end of the back surface of the board 10.
In the related art structure shown in FIGS. 25 and 26, the soldering operation when electrically connecting the coaxial connectors 14 to the board 10 is complicated. The operation of melting the solder when removing the coaxial connectors 14 is also complicated. In addition, in the soldering and solder-melting, heat may be conducted to the dielectric member of resin which is a component of the coaxial connector, which results in a fear of deformation and electrically characteristic change in the dielectric member. This limits the number of times of repetitive use, and so is not economical.
In order to obviate such an inconvenience, the related art for electrically connecting the coaxial connector to the board is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,865. This art is, in brief, to fix the shell GND of the coaxial connector to a block of a conductive material, make the core conductor of the coaxial connector project from the one surface of the block in an electrically insulated state, and provide a moving member formed of the conductive material movable along the one surface of the block. With the board being loaded on the moving member, the moving member is moved toward the core conductor so that the terminal electrode formed at the end of the surface of the board is brought into contact with the core conductor, thereby making an electric connection therebetween. Further, since the GND electrode formed at the end of the back surface of the board is loaded on the moving member, it is electrically connected to the shell GND through the moving member and the block. Thus, the coaxial connector can be electrically connected to the board without the soldering.
In the related art disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,865, the structure for moving the moving member with the board being load toward the core conductor of the coaxial connector is complicated and so the entire device is fairly bulky. It is preferable that the device is smaller in size and can provide easier attachment/detachment of the coaxial connector for the board.